Sharptooth (character)
Sharptooth is a large male''The Land Before Time: The Illustrated Story'' page 12. ''Tyrannosaurus Rex'',[http://www.cataroo.com/DBland.html The Animated Films of Don Bluth] Retrieved on November 26th 2011. who is the main antagonist in The Land Before Time. It is unlikely that Sharptooth is his real name, as it is also the name of his species; in production art, he is simply labelled "Tyrannosaurus Rex". Character Personality :"Although one of his eyes were swolen shut, he was growling softly, enjoying his moment of revenge." :— The Narrator, descriping Sharptooth's thoughts in The Land Before Time: The Illustrated Story. Little of Sharptooth's personality is seen in the movie. However, the book that was sold along with the original movie gives more insight on his actual thoughts. Sharptooth appears to be very persistent, given by the fact that he continues fighting Littlefoot's Mother despite the Earthshake and his multiple wounds, and that he continues to pursue the main characters throughout the movie, even though they would be of little food to him. According to the book, much of this persistance is derived from vengeance, as he takes pleasure in cornering Littlefoot and Cera after the former had accidently blinded him in one eye with a thorn. It is evident that he will continue fighting even when it is obviously hopeless, snapping at the children even when his head is trapped in a small tunnel and they are far out of reach. He doesn't stop trying when he is in extreme danger, as he tries to crush Littlefoot and Cera while falling to his apparent doom in the Great Earthshake, and pulls Petrie down with him in his last moments, plummeting into a lake. It is shown in the book that Sharptooth does not forget grudges he holds against others; it is explained that after he spots the main characters for the second time, he immediately recognizes them and thunders towards them in a bout of hatred. Even after they escape through the narrow pathway he continues to claw and snap at them with rage. It is also implied in the book that Sharptooth enjoys killing, as it is said that when he finds the entrance Great Valley he sniffs the air with "evil joy", suggesting that he may get more out of killing than just food.The Land Before Time: The Illustrated Story page 56. Strength Sharptooth appears to possess a near supernatural level of strength, incrediable endurance, and athleticism, even for a Tyrannosaurus, as shown by him crawling through sharp thorns after Littlefoot and Cera with nary a scratch, withstanding multiple tailwhips to the face from Littlefoot's mother, slamming his head through solid rock with no apparent ill effects, and surviving a long drop into the canyon opened up by the earthquake. He is also shown to be capable of massive leaps, even jumping straight up into the air onto a cliff at the film's climax, as well as apparently being able to see just fine despite having only one good eye. Relationships Sharptooth's relationships with the characters he has been shown to interact with have all been negative. He attempts to eat the main characters and fatally wounds Littlefoot's mother. His relationship with Littlefoot is particularly hostile, as he despises him for (although inadvertedly) blinding his eye with a thorn. He also has a grudge against Cera for charging into his face while thinking he was dead. It is stated in the book that he wants revenge on the children for the trouble they've caused him.The Land Before Time: The Illustrated Story page 17. History Sharptooth first appears when he approaches Littlefoot and Cera, who are playing together in a swamp. Sharptooth, who is probably hungry, chases them into a thicket of thorns. He plods through the thorns after them, and leans down through the thorns to catch Littlefoot. The young Longneck tries to run but gets caught on a vine. As Sharptooth nears him, he escapes and the thorn-covered vines snap back at Sharptooth's face, severely injuring his right eye and causing him to bellow out in pain. Furious, Sharptooth stands up and resumes his pursuit of the two children, only for Littlefoot's Mother to intercept him. In the ensuing fight, Sharptooth is hit several times with her tail, but eventually succeeds in jumping onto the large Longneck's back and tears off some of her flesh. She manages to dislodge him and knock him back again, but as the herbivores attempt to escape, a massive earthquake strikes the area. Quickly recovering, Sharptooth charges in the direction of Littlefoot and Cera again, partially trying to dispose of the two youngsters and partly in an attempt to save his own life from the raging earthquake. In their panic, the children are fliped onto Sharptooth's foot, and at that moment the quake tears the ground beneath them apart, and Sharptooth slides down the slope with his would-be prey on his back. As the children yell for help, Littlefoot's mother comes to the rescue; she grabs the children and knocks Sharptooth off the edge, sending him falling into the chasm below. Littlefoot's mother dies later that night, probably due to severe infections from the wounds on her back inflicted by Sharptooth. Later, after falling into the "Big Underground" herself, Cera finds Sharptooth's apparently dead body. Cera rams his head repeatedly until he suddenly awakes, having only been knocked out. The young dinosaur quickly flees in terror as the beast rises behind her. Shortly afterwards, she meets up with Littlefoot and his new friends; Ducky, a Bigmouth, and Petrie, a Flyer. Cera explains her encounter with Sharptooth, but exaggerates it, making it sound as if she bravely fought him. While Ducky and Petrie believe Cera immediately, Littlefoot is convinced that Sharptooth has been killed. He holds this belief until, one morning, the fearsome beast himself ambushes the gang (by then including a Spiketail named Spike). The children barely manage to escape Sharptooth though a small hole in a rock wall, which Sharptooth tries to squeeze through while snapping and clawing at the children, but he is too big to fit through and they escape. The next day, a humiliated Cera has left them after they escaped a volcanic region she herself lead them into. Littlefoot, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike happen to see Sharptooth nearby while they are swimming in a deep lake. Tired of running and intent on avenging his mother, Littlefoot, guessing that Sharptooth can't swim, comes up with a plan to get rid of him for good. Baiting him with Ducky, they set their plan into motion. Sharptooth chases Ducky to the lake, while Petrie stands on a nearby ledge waiting to give a signal to Littlefoot and Spike, who are waiting to push a huge boulder off of a ledge onto Sharptooth. However, even after Sharptooth accidentally helps Petrie master his flight abilities, the plan is seemingly doomed to fail until Cera returns and helps push the boulder down onto Sharptooth. In a final act of rage and desperation, Sharptooth takes Petrie down with him as he plunges into the lake sinking to the bottom which kills him, ending his terror and avenging Littlefoot's mother. After moments, the remaining children start to walk away, believing Petrie to be dead. However the Flyer manages to surface and fly back to his friends, and they all rejoice and then they go to The Great Valley. (Note: If you watch the scene where Sharptooth lands in the water in slow motion, you can see that Sharptooth had opened his mouth. This could explain why Petrie was safe and wet. Sharptooth is mentioned in the Land Before Time book, Grandpa and Me. Littlefoot says that he'll someday scare Sharptooth away, but for now Grandpa protects him. This shows that this part of the book takes place before Littlefoot finds the Great Valley. Cultural Influence Merchandise Sharptooth has not gotten as much merchandise as other characters, but has received a moderate amount compared to other one-movie characters. He is also the only known antagonist to receive merchandise. A hand-puppet of him was distributed at Pizza Huts along with the other main characters during the movie's theatre release. Music San Francisco Punk Rock band 'Set Your Goals' released a song called "Sharptooth" on their first demo tape, claiming while the song's content doesn't touch on the character himself, they were big fans of the movie as kids. Fanfiction Sharptooth has appeared in several fanfics, mainly ones about him surviving his encounter with Littlefoot and his friends and wanting revenge.[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4164198/1/The_Land_Before_Time_the_Return_of_Sharptooth The Land Before Time: The Return of Sharptooth] at fanfiction.net. Retrieved on April 1st 2012. Trivia *A junior novelization of the original film reveals that vengeance for his damaged eye was Sharptooth's motivation. **Dried blood is shown around his damaged eye all throughout this book. *Sharptooth is the first of his kind to appear in The Land Before Time media. *He is similar in appearance to Chomper's Father. *Sharptooth is seen with his eye shut before it gets hit by the thorn, even though it shouldn't be injured yet. This is most likely a mistake on the animator's part. It may also be proof that Sharptooth's eye was already injured before it was struck by the thorns, the thorns being what fully blinded the eye (though he does open it from time to time in the film; when he wakes up as Cera charges him, when he's sliding down to the pond with Ducky on his snout, and briefly when Petrie throws a pebble at him during the final battle). *The Land Before Time book Grandpa and Me reveals that Littlefoot's encounter with Sharptooth in the film was not his first. The film also indicates that he is well known by the herds, as the characters call him "Sharptooth" instead of a'' Sharptooth. It also appears that Sharptooth is extremely feared by all the characters in the original film, even more so than Red Claw, as most of the characters (including Ducky and Petrie) generally react in horror when they hear his name. ''The Land Before Time: The Illustrated Story states that he is "the most ferocious and deadly creature in all the land". *The scene where Sharptooth's eye is poked by the thorn was originally much more graphic; scenes from a chase scene, including one where the main characters are trapped underneath him, were also cut.AnimationNation forum. Retrieved on August 8th, 2012. *He could be seen to be similar to the Tyrannosaurus Rex from Walt Disney's 1940 animated feature film Fantasia, as both are non-talking animal villains that do not intend to kill for evil, just wanting to get something to eat. Nevertheless, it is implied the Sharptooth actually enjoys killing for fun, and the fact that he is extremely persistent about killing Littlefoot and his friends suggest he is acting out of hatred towards the children rather than just predation (although it is also shown there are no other suitable prey around, which in turn implies Sharptooth was desperate with hunger and persistently chased the easiest prey around). *The Tyrannosaurus that appears in ActionForms' hunting simulation video game Carnivores has a behavior somewhat reminiscent of Sharptooth. Similarly, there is a female T-rex in the 2008 Turok video game named Mama Scarface who shares several similarities with Sharptooth *Sharptooth's recycled roars are now stock sound effects and have been used in several movies and media involving giant monsters and similar creatures.For example: **The dragons from Disney's The Black Cauldron **Obsidius,from the video game Godzilla Unleashed **Mama Scarface a T-rex,from Turok (2008) **The Utahraptors from Primal Prey **In My Little Pony:Friendship is Magic,monsters like the dragons,the hydras and Cerberus utter original Sharptooth roars sometimes **The T-Rexes from Discovery Channel's Dinosaur Revolution all utter Sharptooth roars. **The Great Animal has a higher pitch version, in the screech and the growls. **Diprotodon and Megalania from "Land of Lost Monsters" had used these sounds. **Ludmilla's Dragon form uttered the sounds. *Usually, so not to confuse this character with other Sharpteeth or Sharpteeth as a whole species, fans tend to refer to him as "the Original Sharptooth" or "The Sharptooth". *The fight between Sharptooth and Littlefoot's Mother has been compared by many critics and fans to the fight between the Tyrannosaurus and the Stegosaurus from Fantasia. *El Ularoso from What's New Scooby Doo, shares the head design, and textures. Quotes :"Littlefoot and Cera stood in the shadow of the most ferocious and deadly creature in the land—Sharptooth!" :— The book's narrator on Sharptooth. :"The monster bellowed in pain and reared back from the brambles. Then, with a terrible fury, he plunged back into the thicket, searching for the puny creatures that had dared to injure him." :— Narrator describing Sharptooth's actions after his eye is hit by the thorn. :"Even in his terror, the huge beast saw his chance to crush the tiny creatures who had caused him so much trouble." :— Sharptooth's thoughts as he is falling down into the "Big Underground". :"With another terrible cry, the big beast thundered toward them, his enormous mouth wide open and his one good eye glinting with hatred." :— Book quote showing Sharptooth's hatred for the children. :"A short time later Sharptooth found the entrance to the Great Valley. He growled and sniffed the air with evil joy." :— Sharptooth finding the entrance to the Great Valley. Gallery Image:Sharptooth concepts.jpg|A reference sheet for Sharptooth; he is labelled "Tyrannosaurus Rex". Image:Sharptooth drawing 3.jpg|Production art of Cera ramming into the rock Sharptooth is on. Image:Sharptooth drawing 2.jpg|Production art of Sharptooth, falling down towards the lake. Image:Sharptooth drawing 1.jpg|Another production drawing of Sharptooth falling, he can be seen pulling Petrie down with him. Sharptooth searching.jpg Snap2a.gif|Sharptooth tries to bite Littlefoot Snap3.gif|Sharptooth falling from a hill Snap4.gif|Sharptooth gets up Snap6.gif|Ducky on Sharptooth's snout Snap5.gif|Sharptooth attacks Ducky Snap8.gif|The group fight Sharptooth Snap9.gif|Petrie pulls Sharptooth's eyelids Tmb 950 480.jpg|Sharptooth attacks Littlefoot and Cera Tyrannosaurus growling.jpg|Sharptooth snarling at Littlefoot and Cera. Sharptooth Petrie.jpg|Sharptooth helps Petrie learn how to fly References See also *Sharptooth Category:Land Before Time characters Category:Land Before Time I characters Category:Land Before Time I introductions Category:One-Movie only characters Category:Male Characters Category:Antagonists Category:Villains Category:Sharptooth Category:Characters who don't talk Category:Deceased characters